


The Game of The Name

by thephantomrunner



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Pet Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:34:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29205954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thephantomrunner/pseuds/thephantomrunner
Summary: “The problem is he thinks he's cute... but trust me, two can play at this game, Jules. Tomorrow, I want you to call him… sweetie or something equally stupid,” Flynn said, looking at her pointedly, “and then report back… I have a plan.”Or: Luke figures out that pet names fluster Julie, but Julie (with Flynn's help) has some tricks up her sleeves.
Relationships: Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 21
Kudos: 261
Collections: Kelly's Picks





	The Game of The Name

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, reader thank you for clicking on my dumb story! 
> 
> Not sure if the boys are dead or alive in this... I guess it can be read either way haha.
> 
> Umm, I hope my portrayal of them isn't too janky and that they're decently in character lol. Also, this isn't beta read so I'm hoping there are no typos!
> 
> Anyway! I hope you like it :)

After a few months of dating Luke, Julie had become aware of a few things: Firstly, Luke _loved_ using pet names, and secondly, she _hated_ them. 

Well, maybe hate was a strong word: she didn’t mind nicknames, or being called things that weren’t her name; she liked the names of admiration her father would whisper before bidding her goodnight, or when Carlos would call her weirdo, or even when Flynn would call her sweetie, babe, or honey.

As far as the last three words go… she was afraid she would have an aneurism if Luke called her any of them. Her heart sped up enough when he called her _Jules._ It had taken her a while to mentally shift their relationship into an amorous one; he was her friend, and suddenly it was okay for her to touch and kiss him. The transition on Luke’s end seemed seamless- his love language was touch. He was constantly touching, quick to cuddle up to a person and shower them with affection and none of that changed when she had started dating her; so little had changed that she was left in shock when a kiss was pressed to the forehead or her lips. She felt that same shock when he’d begun using pet names. 

“Hey, baby!” Luke had said when she walked into the garage after school. Julie all but dropped her textbook as he walked towards her to plant a kiss on her lips. He beamed at her, his posture was nonchalant. 

It’s not that she _hated_ the name; it just sounded weird coming out of his mouth, especially directed at her. She knew it was a fairly common pet name: she’d heard her parents use it and Alex said it all the time to Willie. It had always been her least favorite pet name to hear, but somehow, Luke Patterson almost made it okay. _Almost._

“Julie?” Luke’s voice broke her out of her trance, “You okay?” His eyebrows met in a frown. 

“Hey,” she said, responding to his initial greeting. She shook her head as if the movement would expel her thoughts out of her head, through her ears, and onto the floor. 

“You got all spacey on me,” he was still eyeing her in concern, his hand reaching out to rest on her shoulders. She tossed him the most convincing smile she could muster, “Long day,” she dropped her bag to the floor. 

_Long story_

♪♪♪♪♪

She wasn't sure when, but it seemed as though Luke had become aware that calling her anything that wasn't 'Julie' would send her into an absolute tizzy.

 _'How was your day, beautiful?’_ would cause her eyes to widen, though she tried to play it off. 

_‘What’s up, sunshine?’_ was often followed by her aggressively clearing her throat as she tried to get her vocal cords to function again. 

_'Babe, you gotta check out the sick lyrics I wrote,’_ would never fail to elicit a blush. 

She disagreed when he told her that she was adorable when she frowned, but all he did was stick his tongue between his teeth exclaiming, _'Whatever you say, cutie.'_

And then sometimes, when Luke felt like being an absolute _hellion,_ he’d throw out some stupid french words: ma belle, ma cherie, mon coeur. She would rather fall through the floor and into the pits of hell than for Luke to ever call her ‘mon coeur’ again; hell was definitely cooler than the heat that rose to her cheeks.

It was becoming a problem; a problem where her brain decided it was okay to shut down the second Luke Patterson tossed a term of endearment at her. She could never tell when she would fully recover, but it took at least a few minutes for her ears to stop ringing and for her face to cool down. 

It wasn’t normal, and Luke had to have some sort of idea of what he was doing, right? 

“Oh, he absolutely knows what he’s doing,” Flynn folded her arms, “He thinks he’s cute,” she explained. 

“He _is_ cute, Flynn!” She groaned, burying her face in her pillow, “That's part of the problem!”

“He _knows_ he’s cute,” Flynn amended, “ _That's_ the real problem. At least he knows that you think so… and he knows exactly what he’s doing; he’s going to keep doing it unless you a. tell him to stop, or b. beat him at his own game,” 

Julie lifted her head slightly, her vision obscured by a curtain of hair that had fallen messily over her face, “And how would I do that?” 

“Two can play at this game, Jules. Tomorrow, I want you to call him… I don’t know, sweetie, or some equally stupid pet name,” Flynn said, looking at her pointedly, “And then report back… I have a plan.” There was a devilish smile sprouting on her face, a smile that Julie knew, loved, and could absolutely not resist. 

♪♪♪♪♪

“Julie! Babe, I’ve been looking for you! I have to show you something,” Luke was bent over, frantically shuffling through his bag with a wild and bright smile on his face. 

Julie was sitting on the couch, her legs crossed, and a notebook resting on them. She felt the familiar feeling of heat rise to her cheeks, and how her mouth was beginning to dehydrate itself. 

_'He thinks he’s cute,'_ Flynn's words tumbled around the back of her mind. 

He thinks he’s cute? Well, Julie Molina thought she was pretty cute herself. 

“Hey, uh, handsome,” she tried maintaining an even tone, making sure each word sounded confident. She cleared her throat, “what's up?”

Luke's movements of filing through his bag had slowed, now more mechanical. His smile had frozen on his face in an almost comical way and she could see how his cheeks looked slightly darker than normal. It looked as if he was desperately trying to avoid eye contact.

“I-,” he started. Did his voice just crack? She felt smug confidence begin to bloom in her chest at the idea that maybe, just _maybe,_ she had made Luke Patterson a bit flustered. His hands stopped rustling for whatever was in his bag. 

“Uh, actually… I think I might’ve left it with Alex… I should go… and get it,” he zipped his bag, slinging it back over his shoulder, “See you!” 

“Okay! See you later, babe!” the word felt foreign on her tongue, but something about it excited her. He turned around quickly, but not fast enough for Julie to miss how his face had darkened to an even deeper shade of red.

 _Damn,_ she felt powerful. 

♪♪♪♪♪

“Damn you _are_ powerful,” Flynn reached up, meeting Julie’s hand in a high-five after Julie explained what happened earlier, “And no surprise, I am _always right!”_

Julie rolled her eyes, placing a chunk of cookie dough onto the baking sheet with a smile slowly spreading across her face, “Yes, you... do have a tendency to be correct about these things," she admitted reluctantly, "but that doesn’t change the fact that _he also uses pet names,_ and every time he does I lose my power of speech,” 

“But, it _does_ change the fact that you’re completely weaponized now! I’m giving you permission to lose all power of speech _except_ for one of the pet names. That'll make him _lose his power of speech too!”_ Flynn tapped her temple knowingly, smearing a bit of flour on it in the process. 

_She had a point._

“I mean, if it really bothers you, Jules, just ask him to stop. You know he would if you asked him to,” Flynn looked at her seriously.

“I don’t want him to stop though,” she groaned, rolling another ball of cookie dough and placing it on the tray, “I think I actually _like_ it? I just want to stop turning into a blushing _fool_ whenever he calls me something that's not my name!”

“Well, I guess that's something we have to work on… but isn’t it at least a little better that he _also_ turns into a blushing mess whenever you call him anything besides ‘Luke?’” 

Once again, _she had a point._

♪♪♪♪♪

“Julie,” Luke whined, “It’s Friday! You have all of Sunday night to do your homework,”

He was currently pouting, the top of his head pressing against the side of Julie’s thigh and his arms were folded as he spoke to the ceiling. He had been there for the larger part of the hour, tossing her the occasional, ‘are you done yet?’

Luke easily fit into the role of clingy boyfriend; he loved hugs, he loved cuddles and he absolutely loved when all of Julie’s attention was focused on him. 99 percent of the time, Julie had no problem giving Luke her attention, she loved doing it, even. The problem was she was so close to finishing her French homework if he would only give her five more minutes. 

“Luke, I’m so close to being done with this,” she begged, not bothering to look up at him, "Give me five minutes, please?" 

He grumbled dejectedly, “Fine! But only five minutes,” he compromised. 

His gaze fixed back onto the ceiling as she redirected her focus to the practice questions about the 'conditional'. 

“Julessss,” he dragged out her name petulantly. She was so adamant about finishing her homework that this time, the nickname didn’t phase her. 

“Luke, there was no way that was five minutes already!” She huffed eyeing the clock and twirling her pencil, “Fine. One more minute,” she went back to writing. 

“Jules,” he dragged her name out in the same way, but this time she wasn’t going to dignify him with a response. 

“Baby. Sunshine. Sweetheart. Dearest. Princess. Angel face,” he pouted.

And there it was. 

The ridiculous blush rose to her face, the butterflies flew to her throat, making a residence there and rendering her speech useless. She threw her notebook down on his head, tossing her pencil into its case. 

_It does change the fact that you’re completely weaponized now!_ Flynn’s words swirled around her mind. 

She swallowed a few times, hoping to lubricate her throat and activate her vocal cords. He knew she lost it when he called her anything in French, and she had just been doing her French homework…. maybe…? 

“Alright, mon amour, let’s go,” she said, standing up and heading towards the door. 

She didn’t turn around to see his response, but she did hear him fall off the couch, followed by a soft expletive. It was satisfying enough to bring a triumphant smile to her face. 

She decided that was enough French for today. 

♪♪♪♪♪

It was clear that they were now at war. Luke would teasingly toss a pet name at Julie, and then she would toss one right back. Usually, these were normal like ‘babe,’ or ‘love’ or ‘sunshine.’ After the first round, Luke would toss another one back at Julie, and she would say one back. These included: bunny, pudding, or cupcake. They both entered round three slightly red, and slightly annoyed that their lover seemingly wasn’t giving up. 

“Alright, Angel Bunny,” he had said, rolling his eyes with no real malice. She noted that he had a tendency to put ‘angel’ in front of anything, automatically turning it into a pet name: angel face, angel baby, angel cupcake, angel dog, angel cat- okay, maybe not the last two, they just happen to fit into the formula. 

“Let’s go, Fluff Muffin!” she’d exclaimed at the start of band practice. 

Round four made it _very_ clear they were at war over who could call who the worst pet name. 

“Flynn he called me _sugarpuff!”_ Flynn stifled a laugh, turning to pause the movie. This was more important than any movie night. 

“That’s so ugly,” she commented, wrinkling her nose. 

“I know! Sugarpuff, Flynn! Fricking _sugarpuff,”_ Julie groaned in agreement. 

“Well, did you at least call him something just as ugly? Honestly, you need to shoot for something even uglier,” Flynn advised. 

Julie schooled her features into what she hoped was a somber frown, trying her best to remain serious as she said, “Honey ham,” 

It was met with silence until neither girl could hold it in, laughter spewing from their bodies, forcefully and loud. 

“Oh my god, that’s _awful,”_ Flynn pushed her slightly, “I _love_ it,” she wiped a tear that had slipped from her eye during their laughing fit. 

“He just looked at Alex and Reggie like ‘is she serious?’ It was _so_ hard to keep a straight face, Flynn, but it was so worth it because he looked like he was about to spontaneously combust,” Julie sighed, trying her best to steady her breaths which were ragged with laughter. 

“That’s my girl,” Flynn said proudly. 

“Flynn, this is literally a thing. We’re actually at _war_ and I cannot let him win!” 

“Absolutely not,” her best friend agreed, standing up to retrieve her notebook and a pen, “Hmmmm, how do you think he’d feel about ‘Nookie Num Num?” she asked when she sat back down

“Ooh, I hate that so much!” Julie said enthusiastically, “Write it down!” 

♪♪♪♪♪

“Hey, Julie!” Reggie greeted, walking into the garage with Luke in tow. Luke smiled brightly at her, offering a soft “Hey,” as a greeting. Julie walked over to him, pressing her face into his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his lower back. 

“Hey, beautiful,” He said again, resting his chin on the top of her head. Though it was relatively tame, a blush rose to her cheeks. She would play on his level for now. 

“Hey, yourself, handsome,” she pulled away, looking up to see her handiwork. She poisoned herself on the tips of her toes, leaning up to plant a kiss on his nose, “Reg, where’s Alex? When he gets back we can start rehearsing,” she walked away, nonchalantly, ignoring Lukes gawking. 

“With Willie, probably. He should be here any second, though,” Reggie said, lazily picking up his bass and plucking the strings to tune it. 

Julie nodded, “Perfect. Luke and I have got some lyrics we wanted to run by you guys,” she reached into her back pocket to pull out the neatly folded lyrics, “We were having a bit of a hard time composing a melody,” 

Luke nodded, finally breaking out of his trance and walking over to where she stood, “Yeah, the lyrics are killer though,” his face was split into a proud grin, “Nice work, Angel Kitty,” 

Okay, so it hadn’t been angel _cat,_ but angel kitty was pretty damn awful. She forced her throat not to close up, violently engaging in fisticuffs with the blush trying to touch her face

“I think this one is all you, Pupper-face,” she smiled up at him as he rolled his eyes. 

“Nah! I only helped a little! You made it all poetic!” he walked over to his own guitar, picking it up and slinging the strap over his shoulder, “Own your lyrical genius, shining star!” 

“I could tell you the same thing considering you wrote half of it, _rock star,”_ she followed behind him, folding her arms when he turned around. 

“Oh my god, squishy cheeks, you don’t have to get so defensive!” he looked down at her, the tips of their shoes almost touching.

“I’m not defensive, boo-berry, I’m just trying to give credit where credit is due!” 

“Exactly! That's why I’m telling you to embrace your sick lyrics! All credit goes to you, ange de sucre!” 

Her first thought was, _please, not the French._ Her second thought was, _really, Luke? Sugar angel?_ Her third thought was, _two can play at that game, baby!_

“Mon petit chou, you’ve always been so thoughtful,” 

“Guys, did I miss-?” Reggie started only to be cut off by Luke making a kissing noise, “Mmm, but that’s why you love me, mon bijou,”

Julie nodded, suddenly overcome with how much she _loved this dumb boy,_ “I guess so, l’amour de ma vie,” there was something in the way she said it that caused Luke to falter slightly, his playful facade dropping. She looked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips.

Luke rested his hand on the base of her neck, his fingers tangling into her curly hair, “Love you too, Jules,” he said, his eyes full of sincerity as she leaned forward slightly, their lips barely brushing. 

“Whoa, _what_ did I miss?” Alex’s voice rang out as he entered the garage. 

“... I’m not exactly sure?” Reggie responded, the confusion evident in his tone, “I think Luke and Julie....just fought in Franglish? … over who wrote more lyrics to their song, then they called each other a bunch of names and then declared their undying love for each other?” 

Luke let out a nervous chuckle, “Yeah, that about sums it up." 

"Ok-ay," Alex muttered as he shrugged off his jacket; none of it made sense, but somehow it all made perfect sense.

Luke extended his hand out to Julie, “truce?” he proposed softly. 

She smirked, leaning up and pecking his lips quickly, “Never in a million years, sexy,” she patted his chest before heading to sit at her keyboard. 

Reggie was cackling at the blush that coated his friend's cheeks, “Good for you, Jules,” he applauded. 

“It’s what he deserves,” Alex agreed, picking up his drumsticks and cracking a smile. 

Luke was frowning, his expression resembling an angered puppy before it spread into a wicked grin, “Have it your way, babycakes,” 

“No, Luke, it's over. Don’t even bother,” Alex shook his head, “I don’t think anything you say can top ‘sexy',” 

"Thank you, Alex," Julie smiled, bowing her head as if she'd just finished a performance. The blushes on her and Luke's of their faces were evident, but she didn't feel nervous, only tremendously proud.

♪♪♪♪♪

“YOU. DID. THAT!” Flynn cheered enthusiastically. 

“Hell _yeah_ I did!” Julie giggled. She was kneeling on Flynn’s bed, needle in hand as she crocheted bright yellow yarn together. Flynn was sitting behind her, weaving teal highlights and her hair into a braid. 

Julie cleared her throat, picking at a piece of yarn, “I also called him the love of my life,” she purses her lips. She didn’t have to see Flynn’s face to know that the other girls' eyebrows probably had shot beyond her hairline 

“... is he?” Flynn questioned. 

“Girl, I’m only in high school, I don’t know!” she laughed nervously, “But I do love him… and he said it back, so,” a smile bloomed on her face. 

“I’m happy for you, Jules,” Flynn said, pausing the braiding for a minute to wrap an arm around Julie’s shoulder from behind, “A million points for Julie, zero points for Luke,” she calculated.

“Oh, I totally won. Reggie and Alex think so too,” she pulled the crochet needle through the loop, tightening the stitch. “I love it when he blushes,” she admitted. Something about it made her feel flattered, but it also assured her that Luke liked her as much as she liked him. 

“I know you do,” Flynn said, finishing off the braid and tying a rubber band around the end, “C’mon, Angel kitty, let's get takeout-- I’m hungry,” she smirked, getting up from her bed and smoothing the wrinkles in her skirt. 

Julie groaned, “Flynn, you do not want to start a name war with me because I _will_ win!” she warned. 

“I don’t doubt it, Jules,” Flynn laughed, linking their arms, “I _don’t doubt it.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Pardon my French XD
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed it <3 <3 <3
> 
> Let me know what you thought!!


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